The LEO computer (Lyons Electronic Office) was the first business computer in the UK. While it's primary purpose was business, it was also used for education.
(While this page is under construction, check the references for details.)
The following bibliography was provided by the LEO Computers Society
BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS
‘LEO and the Managers’; J.R.M. Simmons, Macdonald, London, 1962.
The paperless office concept of the Lyons Comptroller, whose support was vital to the LEO project
Management of change. The role of Information' ; J.R.M. Simmons, Gee & Co, 1970
Gee & Co., London.
LEO, the First Business Computer; P. Bird, Hasler Publishing, 1994.
Peter Bird joined Lyons when, as he says, ‘the pioneering years of computing were no more than folk history.’ Nonetheless, through his ‘talking with old-timers’ and delving through the Lyons archives, he has made an important contribution to the LEO story. Of particular value are the appendices which, inter alia, give details of the instruction codes, speeds, capacities and deliveries of the different models.
User Driven Innovation: The world’s first business computer , (eds.) D.T. Caminer, J.B.B. Aris, P.M.R. Hermon, F.F. Land, McGraw Hill, Maidenhead, 1996.
A first-hand account written by thirteen of the early users who developed the disciplines of systems engineering and put LEO to work on economic, time-dependent business applications, starting in 1951. Included is an edited version of the seminal report of the two Lyons executives who, after a tour of the early computer activity in the United States in 1947, recommended that Lyons acquire a computer of their own. Also included is a Science Museum interview with John Simmons.
LEO, the Incredible Story of the World’s First Business Computer, (eds.) D.T. Caminer, J.B.B. Aris, P.M.R. Hermon, F.F. Land, McGraw Hill, New York, 1998
The revised United States edition of User-Driven Innovation, a Chinese edition was published in 2000.
A Computer Called LEO; Georgina Ferry, Fourth Estate, London, 2003.
‘LEO and its creators deserve their place in history not because of what it was, but because of what it did. For LEO was the first computer in the world to be harnessed to the task of running a business.
A paperback edition was published in 2005, by Harper Perennial
An ICL anthology, edited by Hamish Carmichael; Chapter 6, LEO, pp. 91-94, Laidlaw Hicks Publishers, Surbiton, 1996.
Chapter 6 presents a anthology of quotations about LEO, mainly from LEO personnel.
Electronic Brains: stories from the dawn of the Computer age by Mike Hally, Granta Publications, London, 2003
The book is based on 4 BBC radio programmes produced by Mike Hally. Despite its populist title, it is a very readable and informative account of some early computer ventures in the USA, UK, Soviet Union and Australia. Chapter 5 is an account of the LEO story.
Chapter 13, pages 68-77, gives a brief history of LEO and English Electric including a timeline.
Alan Turing and his Contemporaries, Simon Lavington (Ed.) British Computer Society (2012), 111 pages, summarises the background to all the early British stored-program projects from 1945 – 1951
Reflections on the History of Computing: Preserving Memories and Sharing Stories; Arthur Tatnall (ed.), in Series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communications Technology, Vol. 387, Springer, Nov. 2012.
Chapter 2, Frank Land, Remembering LEO, pp. 22-42
Cambridge Computing - The First 75 Years; Haroon Ahmed, TMI Publishers, April 2013.
ICL A Business and Technical History; Campbell-Kelly, M., Clarendon Press, Oxford.(1989)
The history of ICL is synonymous with the history of the British computer industry. ICL was formed by a series of mergers in response to the increasing market dominance of the large American corporations, particularly IBM. The struggles between these two giants and the inherent problems and implications of competing with US multi-nationals are examined in detail in Campbell Kelly's wide ranging study. At the time of writing in the late 1980s, the author was given unrestricted access to ICL archives and his lucid account of the company, its set-backs and successes makes for a compelling and informative read. This book, which was Winner of the Wadsworth Prize for Business History (1989), will be of great interest to anyone involved in business or the computing industry.
The History of Computing: An Encyclopaedia of People and Machines that made Computer History, Mark Greenia, (2003), Lexikon Services,
A useful and comprehensive chronology of computer history including recognition of Lyons and LEO plus pictures and descriptions of the LEO initiatives.
The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering, Capers Jones (2014), Addison-Wesley.
Capers Jones’s book is a monumental history of computers and computing with a prime focus on ‘software engineering’. Jones has an introductory chapter which deals with the pre-history from the beginning of civilisation to 1930, then chapters dealing with each decade up to 2013. His chapter on the 1950s includes the LEO story, brief (pages 85, 86, in a 452 page book), but giving some weight to the place of LEO in computing history.
This pamphlet gives a brief description of a number of UK designed and manufactured computers including the LEO range, pages 18 and 19. All the texts are lifted from Wikipedia entries and include some errors made in these entries.
Managed Print Services: High-impact Technology - What You Need to Know ...Kevin Roebuck (2011), Tebbo. The book is a type of encyclopaedia including a wide range of technology topics each supplemented by a rich set of references. A short, well sourced, chapter on LEO, page 50-56, is included.
ARTICLES and other PAPERS
Anderson, D., Delve, J., (2004) Pioneers of Payroll on computers: LEO, the Army, the Navy Dockyards and De Havilland , IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, ISSN: 1058-6180.
Anon (1949); ‘A non-technical description of E.D.S.A.C’. How the Cambridge Electronic Calculator works, J. Lyons & Co., June 1949.
Anon (1954), LEO Lyon Electronic Office, Published by J. Lyons & Co., Cadby Hall, Feb 16th.
Anon (1954); ‘Electronic Abacus’, The Economist, pp. 789-791, 13th March.
Anon (1957); Political & Economic Planning, ‘The LEO Computer: a case study in the use of an electronic computer in routine clerical work’, Three Case Studies in Automation, July
Anon (1960), ‘Getting to grips with computers’, The Times Newspaper, reprinted in The Times Newspaper, August 4th 2000
Anon (1960); ‘Notes on Commissioning of LEO Automatic Office at the Ministry of Pensions’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp.198, January.
Anon (1965); Daily Mail Obituary for LEO I 9th January 1965
Plus other items about LEO initiatives in Eastern Europe
Aris, J.B.B. (1996); ‘Systems Design – Then and Now’, Resurrection, Journal of the Computer Conservation Society, Summer.
Aris, J.B.B. (2000); ‘Inventing Systems Engineering’, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 4-15, July-September.
Aris, J.B., Land, F.F., Mellor, A., (eds.), (2003), LEO Conference Report, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 253-398, December
Behr, B.,. (2014), Editor LEO Computers Society Newsletter, Autumn, with contributions from Jessica Bradford (Science Museum), Peter Byford, Bernard Behr, David Holdsworth (Computer Conservation Society), , Frank Land and Michael Storey. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/2014_Newsletter.pdf
Behr, B.,. (2015), Editor LEO Computers Society Newsletter, summer, with contributions fromPeter Byford, Ralph Land, Norman Witkin, Neil Lamming, Gloria Guy, Bill Sant and David Holdsworth. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/NewsletterSummer2015.pdf
Caminer, D.T. (1958); ‘….And How to Avoid Them’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 1, No 1, pp. 11-14.
Caminer, D.T. (1997); ‘LEO and its Applications: the Beginning of Business Computing’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 40, No 10, pp. 585-597.
Caminer, D.T. (2002); ‘LEO and the Computer Revolution’, 2nd annual Pinkerton Lecture, IEE Computing and Control Engineering Journal, Vol. 13.
Caminer, D.T. (2003); ‘Behind The Curtain at LEO’, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 3-13, April-June.
Casey, F. (1954), Lyons Electronic Office: How LEO Works, in Business: The Journal of Management in Industry, April
Forbes, J.M., (1965); ‘An Introduction to Compiler Writing’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 8, No 2, pp. 98-102.
Gosden, J.A., (1960); ‘Market Research Applications on LEO’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 3, No 3, pp. 142-143.
Gosden, J.A., (1964), “The Operations Control Center Multi-Computer Operating System.” Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery, E2.2-1-E2.2-9. New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
Gosden, J.A., (1997); ‘Mathematics and Software at LEO Computers’, Resurrection, Journal of the Computer Conservation Society, No. 17, pp. 15-22, Spring.
Hendry, J. (1986); ‘The Teashop Computer Manufacturer’, Business History, Vol. 29, No 8.
Henin, S., (2003)," LEO: il computer in una tazza da tè, La Altra Scienza, p. 102
Holdsworth, D., (2013). Software, a progress report on the LEO III Intercode and Master Routine Emulator, pp 5,6 Resurrection, Issue 63, Autumn 2013, and Issue 64, page 7,http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res63.htm
Holdsworth notes: "The complexity of the LEO III software systems continues to amaze me, especially the way in which the LEO veterans take it in their stride."
Kaye, E.J. and Gibbs G.R. (1954); ‘LEO – A Checking Device for Punched Paper Tape’, Electronic Engineering, Vol. 29, pp. 386-392.
Reprinted as part of ‘LEO –Lyons Electronic Office’ in Electronic Engineering, pp 18-24
Land, F.F., (1960), ‘Computers in Purchasing and Stores Departments: LEO at the Ford Motor Company Spares Depot’, Computers in Purchasing and Stores Departments, Purchasing Officers Association, pp 27 – 33.
Land, F.F. (1996); ‘Systems Analysis for Business Applications’, Resurrection, Journal of the Computer Conservation Society, Summer.
Land, F.F., (1997); ‘Information Technology Implementation: The Case of the World’s First Business Computer: The Initiation Phase’, in (eds.) McMaster, T., Mumford, E., Swanson, E.B., Warboys, B., and Wastell, D., Facilitating Technology Transfer through Partnership: Learning from Practice and Research, p. 3-19, Chapman & Hall, London.
Land, F.F. (1998); ‘LEO, The First Business Computer: A Personal Experience’, in Glass, R.L. (ed.), In the Beginning. Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA.
Land, F.F. (1999), A Historical Analysis of Implementing IS at J. Lyons, in Currie, W.L. and Galliers, R.D., (Eds), Rethinking Management Information Systems, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 310 - 325.
Land, F.F. (2000); ‘The First Business Computer: A Case Study in User-Driven Innovation’, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 16-26.
Land, F.F., (2006), LEO II and the Model T Ford, British Computer Society Journal, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp 650 – 656.
Land, F.F., (2012), Remembering LEO, pp. 22-42 in Tatnall, A. (ed), Reflections on the History of Computing: Preserving Memories and Sharing Stories, IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technologies, Springer.
Reprinted in The Software Practitioner, Vol. 24, no. 4, July 2014, p. 5
Land, F.F. (2015) Early History of the Information Systems Discipline in the UK: An account based on living through the period, Communications of the Association for Information Systems: Vol. 36, Article 26. The article includes a short Appendix recounting the LEO story.
Lavington, S.H., (1980), ‘LEO and English Electric’ in Early British Computers: The story of vintage Computers and the people who built them, Chapter 13, pp 68 – 77, Butterworth-Heinemann, London
Lenaerts, E.H., (1951), Visual Presentation of Binary Numbers, Electronic Engineering, Vol. 23. pp. 140-141
Lenaerts, E.H. (1954); ‘LEO - Operations and Maintenance’, Electronic Engineering, Vol. 29, pp. 335-341. Reprinted as part of ‘LEO –Lyons Electronic Office’ in Electronic Engineering, pp 11-17
Lewis, J.W. (1963); ‘Time Sharing on LEO III’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 6, No 1, pp. 24-28.
Lewis, J.W. (1964); ‘The Management of a Large Commercial Computer Bureau’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 7, No 4, pp. 255-261.
Mason, R.O., (2004), ‘The Legacy of LEO: Lessons learned from an English Tea and Cakes Company: Pioneering efforts in Information Systems’, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, pp 183 – 219.
Mason, R. O., (2009) AIS, LEO and the Pursuit of Good Work, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 25, Article 37, pp. 452 – 464.
Pelling, N., (2002), The Case For The First Business Computer, http://www.nickpelling.com/Leo1.html The business cases behind the five proposals made to the board of J. Lyons & Co. by Thompson and Standingford in 1947 - which led to the construction of the first business computer - are analysed, but found to be strategically lacking. Both an alternate reading of the case and some contemporary implications are then developed.
Pinkerton, J.M.M., (1951), Automatic frequency Control, Electronic Engineering, Vol. 23. pp. 147-148.
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1954); ‘The LEO System’, Electronic Engineering.
Pinkerton, J.M.M. and Kaye, E.J. (1954); LEO: History and Technical Description, Electronic Engineering, Vol. 29, pp. 284-291. Reprinted as part of ‘LEO –Lyons Electronic Office’ in Electronic Engineering, pp 3-10
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1961); ‘The Evolution of Design in a Series of Computers’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 4, No 1, pp. 42-46.
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1966); ‘Large-Scale Computing in the Seventies’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 10, No. 2, September.
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1975); ‘Performance Problems with LEO I’, The Radio and Electronic Engineer, Vol. 45, No. 8, pp. 411-414, August.
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1983); Tape 6 in Christopher Evans’s ‘Pioneers of Computing’, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 5, No 1, pp 64-72, January-March.
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1987/88); ‘The Early History of LEO: The First Data Processing Computer’, The Computer Museum Report, Vol. 21, Winter, ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/TheCompMusRep/TCMR.html
Pinkerton, J.M.M, (1991), Taming LEO – Overcoming the Inherent Unreliability of LEO I, IEE Review, Vol. 37, pp. 13-17.
Pinkerton, J.M.M., Hemy, D., Lenaerts, E.H., (1992), The Influence of the Cambridge Mathematical LaborOatory on the LEO Project, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 41-48
Pollock, N.C., (1955), Electronic Computers and their possible applications, Report to the Board, Stewart and Lloyds, Document stored at the National Museum of Computing, Bletchley. Thanks to Corby Borough Collection for making the Report available.
Quest, M., (1962), Living with Computers, The Journal of the Hotel and Catering Institute, Volume 9 Number 4. The article recounts the LEO story and includes an interview with Ralph Land about computers and the hotel business.
Randall, G.A., (1959), The Potentialities of a Computer in the Smaller Office, The Accountant, September 19th. 1959
Reynolds, C,., (1990), CODIL: The Architecture of an Information Language, The Computer Journal, Vol. 33, PP. 155-163. Note: CODIL was a LEO project.
Reynolds, C,., (2015), Algorithms aren't everything, IT NOW, September 2014 , pp. 60-61
Sabbagh, D., (1999), When Lyons roared, Computing, September 30th issue
Smith, D;, (2011), Innovation in a tea shop, whatever next?, Fujitsu UK & Ireland CTO Blog
Standingford, O., and Thompson, T.R., (1947), Report on a fact-finding trip leading to the development of the LEO computer, 1947. A copy of this report which led to the decision by Lyons to build LEO is held in the London Science Museum, LEO exhibit in the Information Age Gallery.
Thompson, T.R. (1958); ‘Four Years of Automatic Office Work’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 1, No 1, pp. 106-112.
Thompson, T.R. (1960); ‘Problems of Auditing Computing Data: Internal Audit Practice and External Audit Theory’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 3, No 1, pp. 10-11.
Thompson, T.R. (1962); ‘Fundamental Principles of Expressing a Procedure for a Computer Application’, The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 5, No3, pp. 164-169.
Thompson, T.R., ‘The LEO Chronicle, Major Events from 1947 to 1962’, Leo Archive, National Archive for the History of Computing, Manchester, LEO Computers
As part of the library's special collections, the Archive is located in the main building of John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Burlington Street (building 18 in the campus map).
Wagner, F. and Wolstenholme, P. (2003); ‘A Modern Real-Time Design Tool; Applying Lessons from LEO’, IEE Computing and Control Engineering Journal, Vol 14.
Wilkes, M.V. (2001); ‘John Pinkerton and Lyons Electronic Office’, IEE Computing and Control Engineering Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 130-144.
Wilkes, M.V. (2000), 'Business Innovation: Introduction of new methods into business operations' IEE Inaugural Pinkerton Lecture, unpublished, copy of text with F. Land
Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 12, No. 4. (December 2003), pp. 253- 254.
The Issue is devoted to the 2001 conference at the London Guildhall celebrating the 50th anniversary of the rolling out of the world’s first business application at the Cadby Hall headquarters of J’ Lyons and Company on their LEO I computer. URL http://www.citeulike.org/journal/els-09638687
As part of the library's special collections, the Archive is located in the main building of John Rylands University Library of Manchester, http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/ Burlington Street (building 18 in the campus map).
The LEO record is incomplete and further technical information would be welcomed by the CCS. The CCS also maintains an index of documents relating to LEO including a complete listing of the Pinkerton papers held at the Science Museum http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/iclarch/arch01.html and 65 technical drawings including two patent applications http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/iclarch/arch06.html
The Computer History Society has established an archive search facility of computing history websites. The link to the search facility is http://ithistory.org/.
Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Established annual Pinkerton Lecture at the behest of LEO Computers Society to honour the achievements of John Pinkerton. The lecture series commenced in 2000. Until 2011 the lectures were held at Faraday House, London. Since that date they have been given in India by the Indian branch of the IET in Bangalore The IET write about the lectures as in http://conferences.theiet.org/pinkerton/history/index.cfm
IET Pinkerton Lectures, Faraday House London
2000 Inaugural John Pinkerton Lecture Sir Maurice Wilkes AT&T Research Laboratories
2001 LEO and the Computer Revolution David Caminer OBE
2002 Seizing the Moment: The Far Reaching Effects of Broadband on Economy and Society
David Cleevely Analysys Group
2004 Intellectual Property, Entrepreneurs and Company successes Hermann Hauser Director, Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd IET.tv footage
2005 ICT Use in Rural India: Innovations Bridge the Digital Chasm Professor Subhas Bhatnagar Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad IET.tv footage
2006 e-Science and Cyberinfrastructure Professor Tony Hey VP Scientific Computing, Microsoft, USA IET.tv footage
2007 Invention to Phenomenon (Sensation?) Sir Tim Berners-Lee Director of the World Wide Web Consortium
2008 Web 2.0 (Social Media to Inspire Change) Alex Balfour IET.tv footage
2009 IT: Is it on the money? John Carey, Former Head of Business, Strategy & IT and interim CTO, Lloyds TSB IET.tv footage
2010 The relentless march of the microchip Steve Furber IET.tv footage
2011 Internet for all - is the real barrier to reaching this vision: demand, awareness, usability or access technology? Dr Mike Short IET.tv footage
2015 'Re-imagining society through the Internet of Everything'. Dr Robert Pepper, Vice President - Global Technology Policy, Cisco http://events.theiet.in/Pinkerton2015/
Andrew Wylie – Mister Transistor – collects and records information about early transistor computers, including LEO III
London Metropoltan Archive holds material relating to J. Lyons and Company, archived under: GB 0074 ACC/3527
Science Museum, London. The Museum opened a new Gallery The Information Age, which features amongst other exhibits tracing the evolution of the information age, a special section devoted to LEO, including recordings of a teashop manageress reflecting on the changes the Teashop Job (L3) made to her life. The new Gallery is sponsored by a number of members of the IT industry and organized and managed by Dr Tilly Blyth of the Science Museum.
The National Museum of Computer History, Bletchley. Information about LEO with photos. No LEO items are listed on the schedule of holdings at the Museums website http://www.tnmoc.org/ . Trustee of Museum and Secretary of Computer Conservation Society is Kevin Murrell
National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh. The Museum has LEOlll/33 (Phoenix Insurance), as well as three LEO III circuit boards, one of which is on display, and three circuit boards from from LEO IIs. The Senior Curator of Modern Science and Computing is Dr Tacye Phillipson, Website: http://www.nms.ac.uk/
The Jim Austin Computer Collection is a preservation of over 500 machines from small micros to mainframes and super computers. Some of the items can be seen on the web site http://www.computermuseum.org.uk/ . The Collection acquired some LEO III items in July 2012 Visitors are welcome on request.
Heinz Nixdorf Museum (HNF), Padeborg Germany. Claims to be the largest Computer Museum in the world. But currently its only LEO holding is the Caminer et al LEO book in the Museum Library. Its Director, Dr Jochen Viehoff is keen to establish a LEO presence to show the LEO role in the history of computing. http://www.hnf.de/en/home.html
The Museum of Communication, Berlin unites past and present of communication in its permanent exhibition: therefore it illustrates the origins, the development, and the future perspectives of the information society. Appealing rotating exhibitions cast light on different aspects of communication. Visit us via http://en.mfk-berlin.de/ The permanent exhibition features a cabinet that shows the history of digitalization. Within this cabinet information about and pictures of the early LEO-Computers are presented
Many individuals, dead and alive; members of the LEO Computers Society or ex LEO employees, have private collections of LEO artifacts, documents and photographs, some of which are of historical importance. They include:
David Caminer private archive, collected by Ray Hennessy
John Aris private archive, collected by Ray Hennessy
Colin Tully private archive
Frank Land private archive
Ernest Lenaerts 100 notebooks, quarto, compiled in manuscript, dating from 1949 to the early 1950s. The notebooks have been donated to the LEO Computers Society by Paul and David Lenaerts, Ernest's sons, and have been scanned into digital format by Bill Purvis, a member of the Computer Conservation society rebuilding EDSAC. They can be viewed at http://www.billp.org/LEO"
Wally Dutton Wally's daughter Andrea has donated her father's collection of LEO memorabilia including publishrd papers dating back to 1954, newspqper articles and photographs
There are many other private hoards and the LEO Computers Society would welcome information about such holdings.
Maurice Wilkes, played a leading role in the design of the Cambridge University EDSAC Computer in the late 1940s and in return for some funding for that project from J. Lyons & Co, allowed the Lyons team to use the EDSAC design as the basis for LEO I, cooperating with the LEO team and helping in the selection of J. Pinkerton as the chief LEO Engineer. He will be remembered as a good friend of LEO.
Mavis Hinds working for the Meteorological Office used LEO I for weather forecasting – the earliest use of computers for modelling the weather in the early 1950s.
Oliver Standingford 1912-1980, Senior Lyons Manager who at the behest of John Simmons, visited the USA with T.R. Thompson. They jointly wrote the report which was instrumental in the initiative which led to Lyons building the LEO computer. http://www.kzwp.com/lyons.pensioners/obituary2S2.htm
Thomas Raymond Thompson – TRT 1907-1976. The Lyons Mail published an appreciation of TRT in its April 1976 issue. This can be found in the Warwick University Simmons archive filed as 383-S4-14-2-9.jpg. TRT was one of the giants of the LEO enterprise.
Peter Wood – 1918-2013, who has died at the age of 95, was given a good send-off in June, well attended by family, old boys and members of his bowls club. Peter was very modest about his war, but it was revealed that he was evacuated from Dunkirk, trained as a commando, fought in India on the North-West Frontier, was captured by the Japanese – and escaped! He ended the war as a 27-year-old Lt-Colonel, still in the Far East. An England-schools rugby international, he became a pillar of the Association, and a leading member of both the cricket and rugby clubs. He was Ground Secretary for many years, and a vice-President of the Association and those clubs. After the war he was responsible for the first commercial computer in the country, the LEO I, as DP Manager for the Lyons Organisation.
George F Stevens – 1911-2002, senior Lyons manager who took responsibility for the running of the Lyons LEO Computers when LEO Computers Limited merged with English Electric. He subsequently oversaw the switch by Lyons to IBM computers.
Donald Moore – 1920-2013, started his career in computing by setting up and managing the Army Payroll Centre with an IBM 705, subsequently took over the Shell-Mex & BP LEO III computer Centre at Hemel Hempstead. Obituary: http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/169330/moore
Antony (Tony) Bernard Barnes – 1926-2000. Tony Barnes joined Lyons as a Management Trainee after graduating in 1947 working in the Statistical Office. He transferred to the LEO programming team in November 1950 where his talents were quickly recognised. In 1955 he accompanied Thomas Thompson to the USA on a six-week tour, visiting several computer manufacturers and users. In January 1956 he became the Administrative Manager of the Design and Development Section of Leo Computers Limited and in June1959 the Production Director, reporting directly to Anthony Salmon, the main Lyons Board Director responsible for the whole LEO project. He left Leo Computers Limited shortly after the merger with English Electric.
Robin Stanley-Jones – Died 2013, joined as a technician around 1961 and worked at Minerva Rd; did 24/7 shifts on III/1 at Hartree House; then went with LEO III/8 to Australia (Tubemakers of Australia) (1963?). He returned to Minerva Road in 1967 (where he met his wife) and worked in development until the company became ICL. He remained in IT, mostly with Digital Equipment, until his retirement.
Derek Hemy !920 –Joined Lyons as Management Trainee 1939. Did war service in Royal Corps of Signals. Returned to Lyons in 1946 in Systems Analysis Office under David Caminer. Selected as first LEO programmer, a role in which his performance was outstanding. Left LEO in 1955 to senior role inEMI's venture into computing with the EMIDEC. Transferred to ICL when they took over EMI computing and later became computer consultant for Unilver. More biographical details in Bird, P. J. LEO: The First Business Computer, pp 204- 205
George a Hayter – Died April 2015 in Nothern Cyprus, Joined LEO about 1964/5, on systems and sales, at Allied Suppliers, started at Hartree House, then Computer House and Stag Place. Subsequently worked at BOAC under Peter Hermon, then headed the Stock Exchange computer transformation, before setting up his own consultancy for the financial sector.
Others whose deaths have been noted
Wally Dutton
Wallace Weaving
John Merton Baker
Norman Bishop
John Coombs
Mavis Everitt (nee Tin(d)ale)
Mike Gomm (Australia)
Fred Owen
John Page
Jamie Anderson
Geoffrey Barnsley
Ray Bradshaw
Geoff Christopher
Colin Davis
Bob Elmer
Alan Evans
David Garood
John Hemstead
Trevor Hughes
Ron Hurst
Michael Knowles
David Litten
Eve Manley
George Manley
Ken MacLachlan
Frank Moran
Bruce Parkin
Geoff Parry
Mike Roberts
Brian Rogers
John Rookes
Ted Rowley
Frank Thorne
John Tomlinson
Frank Walker
Reg Miller
Ann Sayce
Ernie Doors
Jo Davies
Robert E Peel: He was an intrinsic part of the Master Routine team with such luminaries as Adrian Rymell, Colin Tully, Nigel Dolby, Sheila Milne and I’m sure a few others whose names I have forgotten. The Intercode Translator team interacted closely with the Master programmers and I remember Bob as a thoroughly pleasant and competent member of that illustrious team. I think he worked on the Allocator/Loader routine which had to take the translator output and do something sensible with it. I remember nothing but the great professional relationship we had with him.
Keith Davies
Bob Melling
Anatol Zak, LEO III engineer, 1934-2015
Born on a beautiful farm in Poland 3rd July 1934 Anatol (Tony) Zak became one of the many Polish people to be forcibly evicted from their land. Poland invaded by the German Army swiftly followed by a Russian led ‘Liberation’ devastated the country. Anatol, with thousands of others, made the terrible journey called ‘The Long March’ from Poland, through Siberia and Russia then into the Middle East, India and eventually to England.
Surrounded by brutality and death, starvation and terrible sickness, he somehow survived and relying on his own dogged determination and natural intelligence, he propelled himself into his new land and a wonderful career.
Married in 1960 to Mary, Tony worked in the telephone exchange wiring up substations and then worked for Solatron achieving his HNC and working his way up and where he worked on the first oscilloscope that had a memory component. Moving to BISRA in Battersea where he learned about computer testing and settled with his own house and his first son, Peter.
He applied for English Electric to work on the Leo computers and started six months of training for the Leo III computer and he fondly remembered the final exam, fault finding using the logs and logic diagrams. It took him about ten minutes to find the fault and he left the room top of the class.
His second son, David was born in 1967 and shortly after Tony was selected to go to Katowice, Poland where his job was to keep the machine running. They achieved the average efficiency of 99.8% and were both treated like celebrities and a political threat. He and Mary welcomed many Polish engineers into their home when they came to England for training.
Now in charge of ten sites across Central London and he was asked to take over, and improve performance at Post Office and Telephone Exchange where, after a brief walk out by staff, they got down to business and increased efficiency to 97%.
From their Tony went to Letchworth and from there to West Gorton in Manchester working nights testing production machines and running trials. Taking charge of a machine destined for British Oxygen, onto the Plessey installation and then working in Feltham for British Gas and a disaster recovery site which was the first in England.
Tony said his biggest success, being a little smug, was at AA in Basingstoke. Their machine was breaking down once, and sometimes twice, in each 24 hour period, the customer was furious. But trawling through logs, looking for patterns Tony found the culprit. The cleaners hoovering, tripped the computer. Tony fixed the hoover too!
In 1991 Tony took early retirement and spent time travelling, gardening and taking delight in his family. He died, having survived and thrived on 2nd May 2015.
Note: Would anybody who has further information about people on the list including dates of birth and death, when at LEO or its clients, position or role, links to obituaries, pictures [please send them to Frank Land [[chrome-extension://bpmcpldpdmajfigpchkicefoigmkfalc/views/qowt.html#mailto:{f.land@lse.ac.uk}|{f.land@lse.ac.uk}]]
Brief biographical sketches of a number of Lyons and LEO people can be found in LEO, the First Business Computer; P. Bird, Hasler Publishing, 1994, pages 200-212. The following people – in alphabetical order - are noted: John Barnes, Daniel Broido, David Caminer, Mary Coombs, Leo Fantl, Isidore Gluckstein, Montague Gluckstein, Samuel Gluckstein, John Gosden, John Grover, Derek Hemy, Ernest Kaye, Frank Land, Ernest Lenaerts, Joseph Lyons, John Pinkerton, Anthony Salmon, Ray Shaw, John Simmons, Oliver Standingford, Thomas Raymond Thompson, David Wheeler, Maurice Wilkes, Peter Wood
ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORIES
Title: Oral history interview with John M. M. Pinkerton
Call Number: OH 149
Interviewee: Pinkerton, John M. M., (John Maurice McLean), 1919-
Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Abstract: Pinkerton begins by discussing his education and wartime work in radar technology in England. He then describes his movement into the computer industry after World War II and his work on the LEO I and LEO II computers. In this context he discusses the British computer firms J. Lyons and Company, Leo Computers, English Electric Co., and International Computers Ltd.
Title: Life Stories, British Library, An Oral History of British Science
Interviewee: Mary Coombs (nee Blood), LEO Programmer 1953
Interviewer: Thomas Lean
Abstract: This is a full oral history of the life of Mary Coombs as part of the British Libraries Oral History series on the life of selected British Computer scientists.
Title: Life Stories, British Library, An Oral History of British Science
Interviewee: Frank Land
Interviewer: Thomas Lean
Abstract: This is a full oral history of the life of Frank Land as part of the British Libraries Oral History series on the life of selected British Computer scientists.
Memoirs: John Winterbottom
Available on CD-R: Format: MP3
Currently located: In Frank Land's manual files.
LEO Computers Society: Oral History Project
The LEO Computers Society has initiated an Oral History Project assisted by funding from the Association for Information Technology (AIT) Trust. The list of Oral Histories taken to-date (July 2012) includes:
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Alan King
Interviewer: Tony Morgan
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Tony Morgan
Interviewer: Ray Hennessy
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Ralph Land
Interviewer: Martin Garthwaite
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Bob Gibson
Interviewer: Martin Garthwaite
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Neill Lamming
Interviewer: Martin Garthwaite
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Roger Coleman
Interviewer: Tim-Greening Jackson
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Doug Comish
Interviewer: Martin Garthwaite
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Steve Farrow
Interviewer: Ray Hennessey
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Simon Benedictus
Interviewer: Martin Garthwaite
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: Ernest Roberts
Interviewer: Ray Henessey
Title: LEO Computer Society Oral Histories
Interviewee: John Daines
Interviewer: Ray Henessey
Title: Computer History Museum, Silicon Valley, Oral Histories
Chris Date, well known for his work on Data Base theory and practice started his career with LEO, and provides a description of his experience on pages 7 and 8 of the transcript of the interview.
MEDIA COVERAGE
BBC 1 TV in March 2012 ran a 5 episode series fronted by Len Goodman, reminiscing about the 1950s entitled The 1952 Show in honour of the Queen’s Jubilee. Episode 5 screened on March 30th at 9.15am. It featured the LEO story with an excellent interview of Ernest Kaye.
60th Anniversary event at Science Museum 11th November 2011
The event received wide coverage including interviews on the BBC Today programme, BBC World Service, and BBC5 Live Outriders programme. It was also covered by the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail website. A video interview of Georgina Ferry, Ernest Kaye, Mary Coombs, Ralph Land and Frank Land made for Google was also presented. The links below include reports in media, video recordings, radio recordings, photographs.
Eric Schmidt in the 2011 MacTaggart Lecture noted:
“You (UK) invented computers in both concept and practice. (It is not widely known, but the world’s first office computer was built in 1951 by Lyons’ chain of teashops!). Yet today none of the world’s leading exponents in these fields are from the UK” http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/238974/mactaggart-lecture-2011.pdf
BBC Radio 4 commissioned a programme from Pennine Productions called Electronic Brains which was broadcast on 30 October 2001. The programme was compiled by and fronted by Mike Hally and one of the four episodes featured the story of LEO. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/electronicbrains.shtml
ITV ( LWT London area only ) is to show a series of 8 programmes called London Home Movies on Sunday afternoons. The series will start on 9th November 2012 at 5.30. Several members have contributed to the series and Trevor Hughes's contribution is included in the first programme.
References to LEO will appear in the programme devoted to Work which will appear on Sunday November 30th. at 5.30 pm.
Interviews with David Caminer and Peter Byford will be included with the LEO film and it will include some footage of a home movie taken by Brian Eaton in the sixties, of LEO 3 together with an interview with Brian.
The Register: Live Chat NOW: LEO, the British computer that roared, 28th June 2013 (see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/26/live_chat_leo/). Gavin Clarke, editor of The Register and members of the audience interview Frank and Ralph Land online in real time. The outcome is rather messy as questions and answers do not come out in a proper sequence.
UK Computer Heritage at Google HQ in London 1st July 2013 to celebrate UK contribution to Information and Communications Technology. Featured the Video commissioned by Google for the 60th anniversary of LEO held at the Science Museum: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7EqWtzeIhXjSD4SdfPx1WQICKZMVcP4
BBC How the Computer Changed the Office Forever. BBC Magazine. Broadcast August 1st 2013 BBC Radio 4 at 13.45 as part of a 10 episode series by Lucy Kellaway entitled Lucy Kellaway's History of Office Life and explores the changes brought about in the office by computers and this episode starts with a brief review of the LEO story including a photo of LEO I. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23509153
BBC 4 The I.T. Girls 21st August 2013, 11.00 am BBC Radio 4. Fronted by Martha Lane-Fox its contributors include, Mary Coombs, Dame Stephanie Shirley, Ann Moffat and Tilly Blythe. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s in Britain, many of the pioneers of early computing were women. This was a highly skilled new world of work providing opportunities that were often in sharp contrast to the established norms of post-war British life, with new technology helping drive social change.
Mary Coombs was the first woman to program the world's first commercially available business computer: the Lyons LEO. She tells us what it was like to work on this machine - which was the size of a room.
In 1962 Dame Stephanie Shirley founded a programming company, Freelance Programmers, which only employed women. She became a very successful figure in the industry.
Ann Moffat started her career at Kodak in 1959. She programmed the black box flight recorders for Concorde and wrote missile programmes for Polaris.
The Science Museum's Keeper of Technologies and Engineering, Dr Tilly Blyth, explains the significance of her museum's collection of machines that changed these women's lives.
Martha Lane Fox presents the programme. In 1998 she co-founded Lastminute.com, and become one of the pioneers of the dot com era. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038hfkx
BBC News Channel: Celebrating the UK’s Computer Pioneers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7521868.stm A Brief account of the role played by the UK in the development of computers from Bletchley to LEO.
BBC Radio 4 Extra, 2nd November, 2013, 9.00-12.00 am and 7.00- 10.pm. A three hour compilation of computing history from the BBC radio archives, fronted by Maggie Philbin at Bletchley Park. The programme started with Charles Babbage, and Ada Lovelace, went on to Bletchley and the second world war code breaking exploits, then the LEO story from the Make Hally LEO episode in the four part story of the Dawn of Computers (about 20 minutes), Clive Sinclair and the Micro Computer revolution, Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web, and finally the spread of Social Computing with Facebook and Twitter. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03g8lxl
BBC 1 ONE Show, 13th November, 2014, 7.00 pm – 7.30 pm devoted a section of the programme to Lyons and the LEO story, with extracts from a LEO film, and explanations from Peter Bird and Frank Land. It was well edited and presented, lauding the LEO initiative and stating clearly Lyons' role in building the world's first business computer
BBC Radio 4: Hidden Histories of the Information Age 23rd October 2014 at 13.45. One of six 15 minute programmes, presented by Aleks Krotoski, devoted to specific exhibits at the new Information Age Gallery which opened on 24th October in the London Science Museum. The program, on the 23rd of October, told the story of LEO as ushering in the new age of business computing. It involved interviews with Jessica Bradford from the Museum (content manager of the new Gallery, Gloria Guy and Frank Land from the LEO Computers Society, a teashop manageress who had been a user of the original teashop ordering program and nicely rounded off by Tilly Blyth (who had been largely instrumental in the making of the new Gallery from concept to final exhibit) from the Science Museum. Altogether a well-balanced telling of the LEO story and how it fits into the development of the Information Age. It can be heard on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04m3ftg
BBC Radio 4 'Ways of thinking' 4th April, 2015, 1.30. An account by Naomi Alderman of what programming and coding involves including looking back at what underlies high level languages with an excerpt from Mary Coombs Oral History talking about programming LEO I.
BBC Radio 4 'In Business' 9 April 2015 8.30 pm includes reference to LEO with some photos.. It will also available on Internet Radio at the same time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 If for any reason you are unable to listen at the allotted time it will be available later on BBC Iplayer at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_four
BBC Radio 4 'Computing Britain' a 10 part series presented by mathematician Hannah Fry from University College London. Broadcast on Monday to Friday between 14th and 25th September.
The series will start in the mid-1940s and finish in the early 21st century, concentrating the UK’s part in computing history between these years. We will be featuring the story behind machines such as LEO, EDSAC, Baby and ERNIE as well as later breakthroughs such as packet switching, home computing, the BBC Micro and ARM microprocessors.
LEO: Celebrating The Pioneers: A short film sponsored by GOOGLE made to highlight the contribution of the team behind LEO computers, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of it taking on its first "office job" on November 17th 1951. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrn24SdW64I
Ernest Kaye LEO 1952: An extract from the 1952 show featuring Ernest Kaye and his involvement in the development of Lyons Electronic Office (LEO). It includes a glimpse of how he looked 60 years ago, barely any different from today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE6TX70A3Rc
Leo II Computer: The latest in out series of early technologies from Michael Bennett-Levy's collection that went up for auction in October last year looks at the worlds first commercial business computer, the LEO II/3. Entering service in May 1958, the LEO II/3 (Lyons Electronic Office II/3) at Stuart and Lloyds in London was the worlds first commercial business computer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Z6OGBif9w
Mary Coombs shares her story: Mary Coombs was a programmer for LEO, the Lyons Electronic Office that was the world's first business computer. Produced by Google as part of a series of short films high lighting women's involvement in the early days of computing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6DRr0Dhn4Q
Taking the Punch Out of Input, 1970's era film by Lyons Computer Services focusing on input devices for LEO III range developed in 1960's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPVdHHRc2Q
Electronic Data Processing. A series of film strips produced by the Institute of Office Management by its EDP Committee covering LEO I, Elliott 405 and Ferranti Pegasus. Available from Kevin Murrell at the National Museum of Computer History, Bletchley
LEO AWARDS and PRIZES
The AIS LEO Award for Exceptional Lifetime Achievement in Information Systems
The Association for Information Systems (AIS) is the institution linking academics in the discipline of Information Systems world-wide and has a membership in excess of 3000. It selects members who have made outstanding contributions to the study and teaching of Information Systems for the LEO Award (its highest honour), named in remembrance of LEO the First Business Computer. The award was inaugurated in 1999.
The LEO Award Advisory Board
The LEO's are named after the world's first business computer. Created by the Lyons Company of the UK in 1951 and with installations in Australia by Tubemakers, Shell and Colonial Mutual. LEO was the first computer in the world to be used to solve complex analytic problems including (but not limited to) calculating disease among miners, ballistic problems of missiles, mortality rates for insurance companies, ”flutter” in new aircraft, how to make rain by seeding clouds and even calculating tax tables.
The awards celebrate outstanding achievements in the full range of Business Intelligence and Information Management activities:
Data modelling, integration, quality, warehousing and mining
Analytics, reporting, dashboarding and scorecarding
Business Process Management
Search
Performance management
Knowledge management and strategy
- to name a few. The awards are given to commercial organisations, government, and education initiatives as well as individuals who have excelled in the end-use of analytics and information management.
Governance of the LEO Awards is conducted by an Advisory Board consisting of seasoned members of the Australasian commercial, government and academic knowledge economy. The Board represent many industries and aspects of hands-on experience from the end-user community.
The awards were launched in 2010.
Middlesex University: David Tresman Caminer Postgraduate Scholarship in Business Computing
“Receiving the Scholarship is mind blowing! It has restored me back on track and reinvigorated my career aspirations. My academic progression almost took a dark turn in the light of my father's prolonged illness which eventually took his life. I had thought it was all coming to a dramatic halt for me but the Scholarship came to the rescue! Now I can focus on finishing with a first class.”
Introduction
The LEO computer (Lyons Electronic Office) was the first business computer in the UK. While it's primary purpose was business, it was also used for education.(While this page is under construction, check the references for details.)
Section 1
Section 2
Table of Contents
Main Content
Section 1
Section 2
Miscellaneous
Section 1
Section 2
References
LEO Computers Society
LEO Computers on wikipedia
LEO Computer - BBC Radio 4 - Hidden Histories of the Information Age
Warwick Digital Collections
The following bibliography was provided by the LEO Computers Society
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
ARTICLES and other PAPERS
ARCHIVES – LEO DOCUMENTS AND ARTEFACTS
The following weblinks provide search facilities covering most of the UK’s and Ireland’s
Private Holdings
Many individuals, dead and alive; members of the LEO Computers Society or ex LEO employees, have private collections of LEO artifacts, documents and photographs, some of which are of historical importance. They include:
There are many other private hoards and the LEO Computers Society would welcome information about such holdings.
OBITUARIES and BIOGRAPHIES
Others whose deaths have been noted
Note: Would anybody who has further information about people on the list including dates of birth and death, when at LEO or its clients, position or role, links to obituaries, pictures [please send them to Frank Land [[chrome-extension://bpmcpldpdmajfigpchkicefoigmkfalc/views/qowt.html#mailto:{f.land@lse.ac.uk}|{f.land@lse.ac.uk}]]
Brief biographical sketches of a number of Lyons and LEO people can be found in LEO, the First Business Computer; P. Bird, Hasler Publishing, 1994, pages 200-212.
The following people – in alphabetical order - are noted:
John Barnes, Daniel Broido, David Caminer, Mary Coombs, Leo Fantl, Isidore Gluckstein, Montague Gluckstein, Samuel Gluckstein, John Gosden, John Grover, Derek Hemy, Ernest Kaye, Frank Land, Ernest Lenaerts, Joseph Lyons, John Pinkerton, Anthony Salmon, Ray Shaw, John Simmons, Oliver Standingford, Thomas Raymond Thompson, David Wheeler, Maurice Wilkes, Peter Wood
ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORIES
LEO Computers Society: Oral History Project
The LEO Computers Society has initiated an Oral History Project assisted by funding from the Association for Information Technology (AIT) Trust. The list of Oral Histories taken to-date (July 2012) includes:
MEDIA COVERAGE
FILMS
LEO AWARDS and PRIZES